What do you get if you combine a petty little man like Tab Atkins Jr. and a far-left wing company culture? The answer: Manipulated search results to punish those they believe "deserve it".

With the increasing evidence that Google operates with an open political agenda, it is not surprising that its employees feel comfortable using their privileged position at Google to smite those guilty of wrong-think.

Take the case of Google search employee Tab Atkins Jr. After a Twitter spat with Zoe Quinn, Atkins decided that social justice needed to be served and wrote a libelous smear of me on his blog with the title "Brad Wardell is a douchebag"...three years ago.

As a semi-public figure I'm pretty used to someone, somewhere writing something unpleasant about me. What I was not prepared for, however, was someone who knew Google's search algorithms well enough to keep their little blog post up at the top of Google (but no other search engine's) search results for three years.

Compare the difference:

BING:

No where to be found.

DuckDuckGo:

No where to be found.

GOOGLE:

Right at the top just behind my Twitter and Wikipedia pages.

Now mind you, I've been featured in a lot of newspapers, magazines and websites over the years from Time Magazine to the WSJ to USA Today and of course frequently in the technology news sector. None of those articles come up. LinkedIn.com doesn't even come up. Even the infamous false allegation of "sexual harassment" that certain gaming journalists latched onto (and later apologized for) can't beat it.

Either the SEO managers at LinkedIn, FaceBook, Kotaku, USAToday.com, Time.com, etc. need to recruit this guy...or, more likely, this guy knows how to manipulate Google search results. I don't know if Google gives preferential treatment to results from its employees or not. What is known is that the results are unique to Google and have managed to survive 3 years at the top despite his blog not being notable.

However, the issue I have isn't just about Tab bt rather, what it says about Google's culture. I don't think anyone I have ever worked with would feel comfortable doing this to someone. I'm the publisher of Neowin and it's never occurred to me to use my power to try to ruin an individual. What is the mindset of someone who writes something like that and then uses what appears to be insider SEO knowledge to ensure it nears the top? What it says to me is that there's something gross about Google's culture and that they have a pretty high confidence that they can mete our social justice at those they feel deserve it.

Now, imagine if I weren't already a successful CEO that will never have to find a new job but instead was just "some guy". What Tab did would be catastrophic. It sends a chilling message to those who participate in social media: Piss off an SJW at Google and they will use their privileged position to harm you.

Now, you might ask "Have I reached out to Tab?" and the answer is, yes:

That was two years ago. In which he responded "he'd think about it".

Perhaps Google has some other explanation as to how their employee's 3 year-old blog gets to the top only on Google and no other site. I have my own opinions.

In the meantime, consider this: Imagine if an employee at Google had written such an article about say Zoe Quinn or some other SJW darlying? What do you think would happen to them?

Up until the revelation that Google is willing to fire people just for having "wrong" opinions I was willing to think that Tab was just an isolated "bad apple". But now, I feel very uncomfortable at that thought that anyone out there with the "wrong opinion" is only a few keystrokes away from being smeared or made invisible by Google employees in the online search results.

The NSA has had two very powerful things on internet for a very long time now, Echelon and Spider. Both are very powerful and can do a lot of things that most people wouldn't think are possible.

It's not just Google that has been manipulating your internet experience. I noticed this begin during the health care disaster. It was like an iron curtain fell onto the internet and everything started working a lot differently than it had in the past. As just one example, you've probably never heard before that the specific reason the health care law was unconstitutional was that it was a violation of the 4th Amendment. Government cannot seize your property. Commanding you to turn your property over to whatever private entity you are ordered to turn it over too, or your property will be seized and given to that company, is a clear violation of the 4th ammendment. Any mention of this was essentially erased from the internet in real time as it happened. Attmepts to make posts stating this, the posts would never appear. Any article mentioning it would not list in search engines, etc. It was, almost obviously, a massive campaign to squash any dissent of the subject and prevent anyone from explaining what the actual issue was (it was a form of slavery called "indentured servitude").

Ever since then, the internet has been effectively controlled by people who decide what opinions you will see and which ones you won't see. The software that does this is far more capable than most imagine it too be, much like the NSA's Echelon and Spider. This is no longer a free country.

Was it ever? Really? Right from the get-go, powerful men like bankers, politicians and businessmen rose to the top and took control. The only difference today is that now they have assumed absolute power, and in this electronic age, it's more noticeable when your freedoms and liberties are being stripped away.

Oh, and it's not just in the US. There are other so-called democratic countries doing the same thing.... legislating against regular citizens instead of the people who should be better controlled. In many cases that's themselves - the rich and powerful - but that's not going to happen, is it?

Every time someone tells me that we can trust Google I feel the urge to remind them that they have a culture where their employees feel free to use their inside knowledge to sabotage the search results of people they have a problem with. I can't think of any other company that would tolerate that.

I saw at least a few people saying Google and all other search providers hand over their source code to the government and/or competitors for review. I for one think that's an absolutely horrible thing to suggest as it'd be like telling @Frogboy he has to give the source code to all his games to say the US Government or EA for review.

What I believe needs to happen is the laws that protect us from discrimination "Gender/Race/Sexuality/Religion/Political Stance" should be expanded to state the end product served must be done so without bias in any of the above... everyone knows our news sources need to start adhering to that...

Every time someone tells me that we can trust Google I feel the urge to remind them that they have a culture where their employees feel free to use their inside knowledge to sabotage the search results of people they have a problem with. I can't think of any other company that would tolerate that.

There was never a time when Google was honest or trustworthy. The sooner people accept that the better.